Health Care Management (HCMG)

HCMG 101 Health Care Systems

This introductory course takes a policy and politics angle to health care's three persistent issues - access, cost and quality. The roles of patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies will be established. The interaction between the government and these different groups will also be covered. Current national health care policy initiatives and the interests of class members will steer the specific topics covered in the course. The course aims to provide skills for critical and analytical thought about the U.S. health care system and the people in it.

Taught by: Harrington/Polsky

One-term course offered either term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 202 The Economics and Financing of Health Care Delivery

The course provides an application of economic models to demand, supply, and their interaction in the medical economy. Influences on demand, especially health status, insurance coverage, and income will be analyzed. Physician decisions on the pricing and form of their own services, and on the advice they offer about other services, will be considered. Competition in medical care markets, especially for hospital services, will be studied. Special emphasis will be placed on government as demander of medical care services. Changes in Medicare and regulation of managed care are among the public policy issues to be addressed.

This course will explore the effects of the changing health care environment on the physician, patient and health care manager. It is intended for any undergraduate with an interest in how 1/6th of the American economy is organized as well as those planning careers as health care providers and managers. The course complements other health care courses (that take a societal perspective) by focusing on the individuals who participate in the health care enterprise. There are no prerequisites, as the course will stand on its own content. The course will be divided into modules that focus on the participants of the health care process and the process itself. We will analyze the patient, the doctor, and manager in light of the patient-doctor interaction, the turbulent health care marketplace, expensive new technologies,resource allocation, and ethics.

Taught by: Asch

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 204 Comparative Health Care Systems

This course examines the structure of health care systems in different countries, focusing on financing, reimbursement, delivery systems and adoption of new technologies. We study the relative roles of private sector and public sector insurance and providers, and the effect of system design on cost, quality, efficiency and equity of medical services. Some issues we address are normative: Which systems and which public/private sector mixes are better at achieving efficiency and equity? Other issues are positive: How do these different systems deal with tough choices, such as decisions about new technologies? Our main focus is on the systems in four large, prototypical OECD countries--Germany, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom--and then look at other countries with interesting systems- including Italy, Chile, Singapore, Brazil, China and India. We draw lessons for the U.S. from foreign experience and vice versa.

This course will familiarize students with methods used to assess the quality of hospital or provider health care using outcomes data, and to understand and evaluate studies involving health care outcomes. Students are exposed to the mechanics of hospital quality evaluation and challenged to evaluate the medical and health services research literature on health care evaluation, as well as to make inferences regarding hospital quality and the comparison or rankings of hospitals or providers. Topics will include the history of health care outcomes analysis; the conceptual framework for outcome studies; consumer demand for information; an overview of medical data and data collection systems; a description of outcome statistics and severity adjstments currently in use; the study of excess variation in outcomes; and the use of guidelines to assess outcomes. By the end of the course, students will have developed a thorough appreciation of the current methods used by policy makers, researchers, and health care providers to evaluate medical outcomes, as well as those used by consumers to choose hospitals and providers.

Taught by: Silber

Course usually offered in spring term

Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics or permission of instructor

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 213 Health Care Strategy and Management: the Business of Health Care

This course presents an overview of the business of health and how a variety of health care organizations have gained, sustained, and lost competitive advantage amidst intense competition, widespread regulation, high interdependence, and massive technological, economic, social and political changes. Specifically, we evaluate the challenges facing health care organizations using competitive analysis, identify their past responses, and explore the current strategies they are using to manage these challenges (and emerging ones) more effectively. Students will develop generalized skills in competitive analysis and the ability to apply those skills in the specialized analysis of opportunities in producer (e.g. biopharmaceutical, medical product, information technology), purchaser (e.g. insurance), and provider (e.g. hospitals, nursing homes, physician) organizations and industry sectors. The course is organized around a number of readings, cases, presentations, and a required project.

Taught by: Kimberly,Swanson

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 215 Management and Economics of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industries

This course provides an overview of the management, economic and policy issues facing the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The course perspective is global, but with emphasis on the U.S. as the largest and and most profitable market. Critical issues we will examine include: R&D intensive cost structure and rapid technological change; biotech startups and alliances with the pharma industry; pricing and promotion in a complex global marketplace where customers include governments and insurers, as well as physicians, pharmacists and consumers. We use Wharton and industry experts from various disciplines to address these issues.

This course combines the insights of health economics with a strategic perspective on the business of health. The first section will consider the costs and benefits of medical interventions, while the second considers insurance theory and places special emphasis on the challenges facing firms in the face of the rising costs of health benefits as well as opportunities for private insurers operating in publically financed markets. The third section will analyze strategies of vertical and horizontal integration and their effect on the balance of power in local healthcare markets. Finally, the course will cover the effects of reform on firm incentives. The course will be taught using a mix of lectures and cases.

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 250 Health Policy: Health Care Reform and the Future of the American Health System

This course will provide students a broad overview of the current U.S. healthcare system. The course will focus on the challenges facing the health care system, an in-depth understanding of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and of its potential impact upon health care access, delivery, cost, and quality as well as its effect on firms within the health care sector. The course will examine potential reforms, including those offered by liberals and conservatives and information that can be extracted from health care systems in other developed countries. The course will also explore key facets of the ACA, including improving access to care and health insurance exchanges, improving quality and constraining costs through health care delivery system reforms, realigning capacity through changes in the health care workforce and in medical education, the potential impact on biomedical and other innovations, and the impact on economic outcomes such as employment, wage growth, and federal budget deficits. The course will also examine the political context and process of passing major legislation in general and health care legislation in particular, including constitutional arguments surrounding the Affordable Care Act. Throughout the course, the key lessons will integrate the disciplines of health economics, health and social policy, law and political science to elucidate key principles.

This course provides an application of economic principles to the health care sector. By recognizing the importance of scarcity and incentives, this course will focus on the critical economic issues in producing, delivering, and financing health care. In particular, the course will analyze determinants of demand for medical care, such as health status, insurance coverage, and income; the unique role of physicians in guiding and shaping the allocation of resources in medical care markets; and competition in medical care markets, especially among hospitals. Special emphasis will be placed on the evaluation of policy instruments such as government regulation, antitrust laws, 'sin taxes' on cigarettes and alcohol, and public health programs. This course is similar to HCMG 202, but uses more advanced quantitative methods and formal economic theory; knowledge of calculus and basic microeconomics is recommended. Students who take HCMG 302 may not also take HCMG 202 (ECON 039) for further credit.

The purpose of this course is to apply economics to an analysis of the health care industry, with special emphasis on the unique characteristics of the US healthcare markets, from pre-hospital to post-acute care. This course focuses on salient economic features of health care delivery, including: the role of nonprofit providers, the effects of regulation and antitrust activity on hospitals, the degree of input substitutability within hospitals, the nature of competition in home health care, public versus private provision of emergency medical services, the effect of specialty hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, the economics of direct-to-consumer advertising and its effect on drug safety, defining and improving medical performance in hospitals, specialization and investment in physical and human capital, and shifting of services between inpatient and outpatient settings and its effect on health care costs and quality.

Prerequisite: Students who took HCMG 202 may not take 352 for further credit

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 391 Health Care Entrepreneurship

Delivering basic health care advances worldwide and continuing to increase lifespan and quality (in an affordable manner) represent some of the major societal challenges of our time. Addressing these challenges will require innovation in both medical technology and the ways in which health services are delivered. Through readings, cases, guest lectures, and your own entrepreneurial work outside of class, we will examine the environment facing prospective health care entrepreneurs: (1) sources of health care innovation; (2) the many "customers" in health care: patients, doctors, hospitals, insurers, and regulators; (3) the powerful established firms with developed clinical and sales expertise; (4) the investing community. Along the way we will develop a framework for thinking about what is different (and what is not) about the challenges of health care entrepreneurship.

Taught by: Grennan

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 841 Health Services System

This course provides an overview of the evolution, structure and current issues in the health care system. It examines the unique features of health care as a product, and the changing relationships between patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, employers, communities, and government. The course examines three broad segments of the health care industry: payors, providers and suppliers. Within the payor segment, the course examines the sources and destinations of spending, managed care (HMOs, PPOs),employer based health insurance, technology assessment, payor strategy, and efforts to pay for the elderly, the poor & the medically indigent. Within the provider segment, the course examines the impact of cost containment and competition on hospitals and integrated delivery systems, long term care and disease management, and the important role of epidemiology in assessing population health needs and risks. Within the supplier segment, the course will examine developments in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical devices, genomics and IT industries. NOTE: This is a required course for Wharton Graduate Health Care Management majors; it counts as an elective course for all other Wharton Graduate students. It is also open to Law School and Nursing School students with a joint Wharton Program.

Taught by: Burns

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

Notes: Lectures and cases. Weekly reading assignments.

HCMG 845 Managed Care and the Industrial Organization of Health Care

This course, co-taught with Brad Fluegel, former Senior Vice President and Chief Healthcare Marketing Development officer at Walgreen Co, will focus on two interrelated topics: managed care and market structure. The section on managed care will cover strategic planning and marketing of managed care services, operational issues in developing a managed care network, actuarial issues, and the management of physician behavior. The section on health care market structure will analyze strategies of vertical integration and horizontal integration (M+As), and their attempt to alter the balance of power in local healthcare markets. The section will also analyze the operational issues in managing cost and quality in an integrated system, integration along the supply chain, and the performance of these systems, and the bargaining and negotiation between hospitals, physicians, and health plans.

Taught by: Gupta, Fluegel

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

Notes: Lectures, cases, exam, and orally presented term project.

HCMG 849 Financial Management of Health Institutions

This course focuses on health care organizations' financial decisions in the changing health care landscape. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to utilize a range of financial tools and techniques for making value-added financial decisions in a variety of important contexts in the health care sector. The course involves case analyses and lectures, including presentations by practitioners with extensive real world experience. The course is organized around cases dealing with publicly-traded health care company valuation, valuation and return on investment of biopharmaceutical and medical technology development projects, valuation and deal structure for startup and early stage health care organizations, health plan pricing and finance, and health care provider risk-sharing arrangements. Each case is accompanied by background on tools, methods, institutions, and markets. Students seeking careers in health care finance and financial decision making. Students with more background will extend and enhance their analytical skills in a variety of important areas.

Taught by: Harrington

Course usually offered in fall term

Prerequisite: Finance 611 or equivalent coursework or experience

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

Notes: Lecture and cases. Students work in teams to complete 4-5 case write-ups and an oral case presentation. There is also a written exam.

HCMG 850 Health Care Reform and the Future of the American Health System

The objective of this course is to provide students with a rigorous understanding of the health care system in the United States. The course will focus on the historical development of the current health care system; challenges of health care costs, quality, and access; the relationship between market failure and the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); the impact to date of recent health reforms on the organization, structure, delivery and outcomes of the health care system, and future reforms and responses of the health care system. This class will consist of 4 interconnected segments. The first segment will provide an in-depth analysis of the U.S. health care system prior to the passage of the ACA and the factors underlying the failure of this market. The second segment of the course will review the history of attempts to reform the US health care system, the politics of reform, and the story of how the ACA ultimately passed through Congress. The third segment will focus on the effects of the ACA subsequent health reforms, such as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, over the last 8 years on cost, access, and quality. This will include perspectives from a diverse set of stakeholders, includiing insurers, health care systems, physicians, private sector entrepreneurs, and others. The final segment of the course will consider the possible long-term outlook for health reform in the United States, including recent pushes for national single payer, or "Medicare for All."

The purpose of this course is to apply economics to an analysis of the health care industry, with special emphasis on the unique characteristics of the US healthcare markets, from pre-hospital to post-acute care. This course focuses on salient economic features of health care delivery, including: the role of nonprofit providers, the effects of regulation and antitrust activity on hospitals, the degree of input substitutability within hospitals, the nature of competition in home health care, public versus private provision of emergency medical services, the effect of specialty hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, defining and improving medical performance in hospitals, specialization and investment in physical and human capital, shifting of services between inpatient and outpatient settings and its effect on health care costs and quality, and innovation in primary care from retail clinics to patient-centered medical homes and retainer-based medicine.

Successful medical devices are an amalgamation of creative and innovative thinking, clinical expertise, and engineering know-how that endures intense regulatory and reimbursement scrutiny. This course will provide a foundation for understanding the nuances of the medical device industry. It will cover topics ranging from device design and discovery, regulatory issues, marketing, reimbursement, management, and strategy. Classroom activities will be supplemented with optional tours of hospitals, research and manufacturing facilities, and hands-on demonstrations of devices. Though the course is intended primarily for MBA students, it will be open to medical and engineering students as well as to hospital house staff.

Taught by: Grennan,Solomon

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 855 Management of Health Care for the Elderly

This mini course is designed to provide students with an appreciation of the good, the bad and the ugly of how our current health care system cares for one of our nation's most precious resources - our seniors! This course will review care provided to seniors within a variety of institutional settings (hospitals, nursing facilities, various senior housing levels) as well as outpatient and home care services. Special attention will be paid to nursing homes and senior housing options and their past, present and future role within the overall health care system in the United States. The course will start with an overview of the senior population with special attention to their health and social needs. Several classes will be held off campus at selected nursing facilities and senior housing complexes. In addition, a broad range of special programs and services will be reviewed such as sub-acute care, long term care insurance, Medicare Risk Programs, elderly housing, adult day care, managed care, Medicare Part D, case management, hospice and other recent developments. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on entrepreneurial opportunities to serve the senior market at all levels. Students are required to produce a paper for this course that focuses on a specific area impacting the senior market. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to select an area of personal interest and conduct an in depth review of that area including making direct contact with national experts within the topic selected. All student topics must be approved during the first two weeks of class and the depth of research required agreed upon by the by the student and the instructor. Interested students not in the HCMG major are urged to speak to the instructor before enrolling in the course.

Taught by: Whitman

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

0.5 Course Units

HCMG 857 Healthcare Data and Analytics

In healthcare or anywhere else across science, or business, or sports, the importance of data and analytics ("D&A") is virtually unquestioned. That, however, does not mean that it needs no elucidation. We posit that precisely because of its ubiquity, leaders have fallen into a pattern of both overuse and over dependency on D&A. In this course, we begin with a fundamental understanding of the state of D&A in healthcare and then move onto examples of its use in converting from business questions to implemented solutions. We "sidestep" into the world of algorithms/machine-learning/AI and causal inference, but our focus is on business applications of these tools to the available data in the healthcare industry. As we discuss examples, we always seek to show how human creativity needs to be at the heart of the questions being probed. We highlight today's data universe in healthcare, the level of integration we have achieved, and the immensity of the remaining task, all with an eye to the business opportunities that exist now. We end with a showcasing of the art of the possible - in 2018 - and with (hopefully) a clear look ahead at what remains to be achieved. A curious mind, enthusiastic contribution to the class discussion (35% of your grade), a single team-based case write-up (15% of your grade), and a final project (50% of your grade) form the bulk of preparation needed for the course.

Taught by: Grennan, Mahadevan

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Lecture

0.5 Course Units

Notes: Pursuit of MBA - we expect most students to be 2nd years. We assume no prior knowledge of statistical tools/concepts beyond the level of the MBA Core, though of course further training in data science is a plus, and we welcome those with more advanced preparation.

HCMG 859 Comparative Health Care Systems

This course examines the structure of health care systems in different countries, focusing on financing, reimbursement, delivery systems and adoption of new technologies. We study the relative roles of private sector and public sector insurance and providers, and the effect of system design on cost, quality, efficiency and equity of medical services. Some issues we address are normative: Which systems and which public/private sector mixes are better at achieving efficiency and equity? Other issues are positive: How do these different systems deal with the tough choices, such as decisions about new technologies? Our focus first on the systems in four large, prototypical OECD countries- Germany, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom -and then look at other developed and emerging countries with interesting systems - including Italy, Chile, Singapore, Brazil, China and India. We will draw lessons for the U.S. from foreign experience and vice versa.

This course aims to improve enrollees' ability to effectively manage and lead health care organizations (HCOs, including hospitals, medical groups, insurers, biopharmaceutical firms, etc.). The course is designed to integrate previous course work in general managment, health care, and health policy to further participants' understanding of organizational, managerial, and strategic issues facing HCOs and the health care workforce. The course will provide participants with a foundation for developing, implementing, and analyzing efforts to improve HCOs' performance. A major objective of the course is to sharpen the leadership, problem-solving, and presentation skills of those who aim to hold operational and strategic positions in health care organizations. Another objective is to introduce enrollees to leading HCOs. Through case studies, readings, in-class exercises and class discussions, particpants will learn analytic frameworks, concepts, tools and skills necessary for leading and managing organizational learning, quality improvement, innovation, and overall performance in HCOs.

Taught by: Nembhard

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 863 Management and Economics of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industries

This course provides an overview of the management, economic and policy issues facing the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The course perspective is global, but with emphasis on the U.S. as the largest and most profitable market. Critical issues we will examine include: R&D intensive cost structure with regulation and rapid technological change; strategic challenges of biotech startups; pricing and promotion in a complex global marketplace where customers include governments and insurers, as well as physicians and consumers; intense and evolving M&A, joint ventures, and complex alliances; government regulation of all aspects of business including market access, pricing, promotion, and manufacturing. We use Wharton and industry experts from various disciplines to address these issues.

Taught by: Alpert

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

1 Course Unit

HCMG 866 E-Health: Business Models and Impact

This course will introduce students to the main components of Health Information Technology (HIT) and how HIT currently effects, and in the future, may change health care operating models. Although it will not prepare students for primary technology management positions, it will help them understand the role of information technology in the success of the delivery system and other important healthcare processes. It will provide a foundation that will prepare them as managers, investors and consultants to rely upon or manage information technology to accomplish delivery system objectives. The course will give special attention to key health care processes, and topics such as the drive for provider quality and cost improvements, the potential ability to leverage clinical data for care improvement and product development, the growth of new information technologies for consumer directed healthcare and telemedicine, the strategies and economics of individual HIT companies and the role of government. The course relies heavily on industry leaders to share their ideas and experiences with students.

Taught by: Glaser/Patel

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

0.5 Course Units

HCMG 867 Health Care Entrepreneurship

The course focuses on the creation, funding, and management of biotechnology and health services enterprises. The course is designed to supplement other offerings in the Health Care Systems and Management Departments for those students with entrepreneurial interest in such ventures, and will focus on special issues surrounding the conceptualization, planning, diligence and capitalization, launch, compensation and management of these ventures. In addition, course offers methods for self-assessment & development of business models and plans, techniques for technology assessment and strategy, develops foundation for capitalization and partnering strategies, and creates a basis for best practices in company launch and plan execution. Students must apply to take this course. Please see the Health Care Management Department for the application.

Taught by: Kurtzman,Libson, Heil

Course usually offered in spring term

Activity: Lecture

0.5 Course Units

HCMG 868 Private Sector Role in Global Health

Issues surrounding global health have captivated the attention of the public sector and foundations for many decades. Many of their initiatives are realizing progress on the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The private sector has been less engaged in global health, but has a significant role to play in providing resources and in building infrastructure, human resource capacity and sustainability. This course explores entrepreneurial and other private sector solutions for health services and access to medicines and technologies in the developing world and other underserved areas. The course also encompasses study of creative programs to engage the private sector in development of vaccines and medicines for tropical and neglected diseases. Furthermore, the course addresses novel care systems and therapeutic strategies for the rapidly growing burden of chronic, non-communicable diseases in the developing world. In short, the course builds on the content of conventional global health courses from a managerial and entrepreneurial perspective. Learning is driven through readings, class discussion and a series of guest speakers representing a wide range of global health issues. Evaluation is largely based on a student group project.

HCMG 890-001: This course examines issues related to the Services Sector of thehealth care industry. For those interested in management, investing, or bankingto the health care industry, the services sector will likely be the largest and most dynamic sector within all of health care. We will study key management issues related to a number of different health care services businesses with a focus on common challenges related to reimbursement, regulatory, margin, growth, and competitive issues. We will look at a number of different businesses and subsectors that may have been unfamiliar to students prior to taking the course. We will make extensive use of outside speakers, many of whom will be true industry leaders within different sectors of the health care services industry. Speakers will address the current management issues they face in running their businesses as well as discuss the career decisions and leadership styles that enables them to reach the top of their profession. Students will be asked to develop a plan to both buyout and manage a specific health care services business of their choosing and will present their final plans to a panel of leading Health Care Private Equity investors who will evaluate their analysis. Prerequisites: HCMG 841. Health Care Management MBA majors only

900-001 Proseminar in Health Econometrics: This course will cover empirical methods used in economics research with an emphasis on applications in health care and public economics. The methods covered include linear regression, matching, panel data models, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, bunching,qualitative and limited dependent variable models, count data, quantile regressions, and duration models. The discussion will be a mix of theory and application, with emphasis on the latter. The readings consist of a blend of classic and recent methodological and empirical papers in economics . Course requirements include several problem sets, paper presentations, an econometric analysis project and a final exam. The course is open to doctoral students from departments other than Health Care Management with permission from the instructor. 900-002 Proseminar in Health Economics: Models and Methods: This course is intended to provide entering doctoral students with information on the variety of health economics models, methods, topics, and publication outlets valued and used by faculty in the HCMG doctoral program and outside of it. The course has two main parts: the first, to acquaint students with theoretical modeling tools used frequently by health economists. This part of the course involves a number of lectures coupled with students presentations of class projects in a workshop environment. The second part of the course will offer presentations from the health economics, management and operations research community at Penn on a research method or strategy they have found helpful and they think is important for all doctoral students to know.

The purpose of this doctoral level course is to investigate the theory and practice of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis as applied to health care. The three techniques to be examined are cost-effectiveness analysis with single dimensional outcomes, cost effectiveness analysis with multiple attributes (especially in the form of Quality Adjusted Life Years), and economic cost-benefit analysis. Valuation of mortality and morbidity relative to other goods will be emphasized. Students will be expected to develop written critiques of articles in the literature, and to design a new application of one of the techniques as a term project.

Taught by: Polsky/Glick

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Seminar

1 Course Unit

HCMG 902 Special Topics in Health Economics: The Industrial Organization of Health Care

This advanced PhD seminar will explore topics in the industrial organization of health care and structural econometric approaches in health economics. The focus in this course is the development of advanced econometric tools. The (tentative) topics covered include health insurance and hospital demand estimation, the analysis of hospital competition, insurer competition, quality competition, technology adoption, models of entry and exit and dynamic oligopoly games. The readings will focus on recent advances in economics. Students are required to present recent research from the field and write an empirical research paper that broadly based on the topics covered in the course. With the permission of the instructor, the seminar is open to doctoral students from departments other than Health Care Management.

Taught by: Lucarelli

Course usually offered in fall term

Activity: Seminar

1 Course Unit

HCMG 903 Economics of Health Care and Policy

This course applies basic economic concepts to analyze the health care market and evaluate health policies. The course begins with a discussion of productivity in health care and of the theoretical and empirical effects of asymmetric information and market failure. The second part of the course explores several topic areas in the health care economics literature: health insurance and the labor market; health policy interventions; and health as human capital. The third part of the course examines competition and the behavior of health care providers, with emphasis on the impact of policy on competition, behavior, and finally, bringing us full circle, health care productivity.

This course introduces students to organizational behavior and theory (OBT) by examining key issues in OBT, different perspectives on key issues, and how OBT informs health services research and practice. This course examines "micro" theories (i.e., social psychological theories of organizational behavior) and "macro" theories (i.e., theories focused on the structural and environmental aspects of organizations). We will examine the strengths and weaknesses of various theories, how they can be used as a foundation for research, methods used to study them, and the implications for health policy and management. Examples of published health services research grounded in OBT will be discussed so that students become familiar with the theories-in-use and various publication outlets for health care management (HCM) research.